“Nobody asks to be a hero, it just sometimes turns out that way”.

Mogadishu, October 1993. Two Special Forces snipers, SFC Shughart and MSG Gordon, have rappelled down to the crash site of a second Black Hawk helicopter, shot down by Somali militiamen. They come under sustained fire but the two soldiers traded shots with equal vigour. Ultimately the incoming heat is too much: Gordon goes down and Shughart gives his weapon to the surviving pilot, Michael Durant. Shugart maintained his fire for a few minutes more before he too was killed. The Militiamen moved in, killing the remaining crewmen except for Durant who was taken, prisoner. Gordon and Shughart each received a posthumous Medal of Honor for their heroism.